230 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



comparatively poor in quality, and will not sell profitably, as they 

 will reach the market alongside the better later sorts from earlier 

 districts. The places for the cherry in the later districts is on the 

 most proper soil, according to the requirements which have been 

 laid down, avoiding, however, so far as possible, wind-swept spots, 

 and seeking amelioration of direct ocean influences by elevation or 

 intervention of hills and windbreaks. 4, 



PROPAGATION AND PLANTING THE CHERRY 



In the chapter on propagation is given a successful method of 

 growing cherry seedlings. About three-fourths of California cherry 

 trees are propagated by budding on seedlings of the Black Mazzard. 

 The Mahaleb root is still more hardy than the Mazzard and is less 

 subject to injury by standing water in the soil during the winter 

 season. It is also more hardy against injury in summer drouth on 

 shallow soils, which is one of the causes of die-back of the cherry 

 tree in some parts of the State. While there may be particular places 

 in which the Mahaleb is the better root, the conclusions of fifty years' 

 experience in California cherry growing, which approve the Maz- 

 zard, are on the whole trustworthy. The Mazzard is a better grower 

 and, where moisture conditions are fairly good, leaves little to be 

 desired. The Mahaleb, however, though credited with a dwarfing 

 influence, does make a good-sized tree under our conditions. It 

 seems a fair general conclusion that Mazzard roots make larger 

 trees, but Mahaleb roots make hardier trees which bear younger. 

 The Mahaleb is more popular in the interior than in the coast 

 valleys. 



The planting of the cherry is covered by the general considera- 

 tions already given for the planting of orchards. The distance which 

 cherries should be set apart is a disputed point among planters. 

 When planted twenty feet apart the trees have interlaced their 

 branches when sixteen years old, and the spaces between the rows 

 have been covered in like colonnades. In the Hayward region the 

 branches of twelve-year-old trees set twenty-eight feet apart have 

 nearly reached the other, though continually cut back. Much de- 

 pends in the matter of distance upon the manner of handling the 

 trees. The trees can be grown much nearer together by continuous 

 pruning than where the usual way of cutting back for the first few 

 years and letting the tree take its natural growth after that, is fol- 

 lowed. James E. Gedney, of Mesa Grande, San Diego County, 

 practiced close planting and cutting back which may work better 

 on his upland than on deeper, moister soils. He says : 



I plant my trees twenty feet apart each way. My method is to plant thus 

 closely and then keep my trees low, by cutting back every year; this facili- 

 tates gathering the fruit very much. I prefer this way to setting the trees 

 farther apart and allowing them to attain too great a height. By the former 

 method I secure fully as good, if not better, results per acre, to say nothing 

 of the difference in gathering the fruit. Another advantage in keeping the 

 trees headed low is that the wind does not affect them nearly as much as 

 it does tall trees. 



